Grape growers from Marlborough and the Hawke's Bay received all eight trophies and 11 champion awards.

"The Romeo Bragato Wine Awards is a special competition because it recognizes the viticultural excellence of grape growers and individual vineyards," said Philip Gregan, chief executive of New Zealand Winegrowers. "The quality of entries received were in sync with any top winemaking industry and there were some standout wines reflecting the level of innovation and expertise New Zealand has reached in grape growing and wine making."

Judges awarded 476 medals -- 53 golds, 141 silvers and 282 bronze. Entries were up 20 per cent from last year, with 667 wines received for judging.

The winning entry came from winemaker Nico van der Merwe, the cellarmaster at Saxenburg for the past 16 years.

Judges' tasting notes for the 4.5 and 4.0 star wines:

Saxenberg Shiraz 2003Cellar Price: $14+ (US)"Complex nose with clean, ripe fruit balanced by pepper and spice. Palate is medium bodied with black fruit matched by firm but elegant tannins. Oak is very well managed. Long finish."

Koelfontein Shiraz 2004Cellar Price: $8+ (US)"Nose shows very ripe black fruit and some peppery herbaceous notes. Palate is full bodied and dense. Lots of dark fruit and firm tannins, but well integrated. Well balanced. Long finish."

Bon Cap Syrah 2004Cellar Price: $7+ (US)"Plenty of pepper and spice to go with abundant red fruit on the nose. Palate is medium bodied and elegant. Oak noticeable for some but should intergrate in time. Long dry finish."Groote Post Shiraz 2003Cellar Price: $9+ (US)Nose is very forthcoming and shows dark fruit, some fragrant notes, spice and oak char. Palate is full bodied, intense and complex. Juicy, ripe fruit matched by elegant tannins.

Cloof The Very Sexy Shiraz 2004Cellar Price: $9+ (US)Dark fruit and pepper on the nose. Ripe on the palate with soft tannins. Accessible.

Marianne Shiraz 2004Cellar Price: $19+ (US)"Ripe berry fruit as well as spice and pepper on the nose. Oak quite prominent at this stage but also shows dense fruit, which suggests this wine will benefit from time in bottle."

20060823

Kentucky's criminal statute against out-of-state wineries shipping wine into Kentucky has been ruled unenforceable by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Simpson in Louisville.

The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Huber's Orchard & Winery (its logo is seen here) in southern Indiana, which claimed Kentucky’s law violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by giving preference to Kentucky businesses over out-of-state merchants.

Now, and until a new law goes into effect in January, Kentucky cannot enforce the criminal statute against out-of-state wineries shipping into Kentucky.

Dan Meyer, executive director of the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Kentucky, said the ruling needs to be studied to see how it may impact the new law.

“This is round one,” he said. “We’ll see where to go from here.”

The state General Assembly passed a law earlier this year requiring Kentucky wineries to sell their goods through wholesalers, the same as producers of beer or spirits.

Simpson also struck down current provisions requiring consumers who want wine shipped to order it in person. That could allow orders of out-of-state wine by telephone, mail or Internet. He said requiring customers to order in person gives too much advantage to Kentucky wineries, thus violating interstate commerce protections.

In the whole scheme of precarious life in the Middle East, making wine seems like incidental stuff.

However, winemaking is part of Israel's economy and the current cessation in hostilities with Lebanon-based Hezbollah is good news for people involvbed in that enterprise.

The cease-fire is allowing Israelis to harvest an especially promising grape crop that could prove to be the nation's best ever. Numerous soldiers just back from combat can be seen helping with the harvest.

"At the last minute," Noam Jacoby told an Associated Press reporter. He is the manager of the Recanati Winery, whose vineyards on the Lebanese border were declared a closed military zone during the war. Besides a few rows of vines that were plowed by tanks, Jacoby said, "it's not too bad."

Grape harvesting began this week in northern Israel, the richest grape-growing region. The weather has been perfect this season, but 34 days of fighting threatened the ability to take advantage of it.

"Treatments that had to be done were missed," Ronit Badler of the Galil Mountain Winery told the AP. "The wine, the grapes look good, but we'll have to see what happens."

Israeli wines have progressed in recent years beyond the stereotypical thick, sweet vintages and have been getting encouraging reviews from wine critics. The northern part of Israel is ideally suited to wine-grape cultivation because of its volcanic soil and its relatively cool climate with low temperature differentials between day and night.

The event, held at the Inn on the Lake here at Canandaigua Lake in the western Finger Lakes near Rochester, drew 703 entries from New York-only vineyards in the official regions of Long Island, the Hudson Valley, the Finger Lakes, the Niagara Escarpment, Lake Erie, and other regions of New York State.

I was among 24 judges from across the nation and England, with a heavy contingent from California. Judges included prominent wine writers, restaurateurs, retailers, and wine educators. Four-judge panels determined the initial awards in blind tastings, with top-scoring wines evaluated by all 24 of us for Best of Category and Governor’s Cup awards on the second day, also in a blind tasting.

The awards were announced at the Governor’s Cup Celebration luncheon at the New York Wine & Culinary Center (seen above) that was formally opened in June. The restaurant prepared a special multi-course luncheon using all New York ingredients and paired with award-winning wines from the 2005 competition, which was also held at the Inn on the Lake.

The Classic, organized by the indefatigable Teresa Knapp of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation headed by the equally indefatigable Jim Trezise, was open to all 239 New York wineries. This year 30 double gold (unanimous vote by the panel), 53 gold, 200 silver, and 249 bronze medals were awarded.

The Governor's Cup, the ultimate award for a Missouri winery, will be awarded to one of the Best of Class winners on Sept. 28 at the opening of the "Missouri Wine: History Uncorked" exhibit at the Mercantile Library in St. Louis. Details on the event: (800) 392-9463.

20060810

" ... (O)ver the last 20 years or so, the Washington State Liquor Control Board has gotten pretty casual about enforcing the letter of the law. These days the biggest selling 'wine' in Washington state is the 5-liter boxed product bearing the Franzia label. Retailing for about $8 a box, it bears the description 'table wine with natural flavors.'

"Discard the 'table' and 'natural,' which have no legal meaning at all, and you're left with 'wine with flavors.' Look back up at the definition and you'll see that under Washington state law, Franzia boxes aren't 'wine.' And if they're not wine pure and simple, the law goes on to require that the label must bear 'a truthful and adequate statement of composition.' And even then, such products can be called only 'specialty wine,' if not 'artificial wine' or 'imitation wine."

That's the position taken by writer Roger Downey in a Seattle Weekly commentary.

Agree or disagree, it's quite an interesting topic, particularly with Washington's status as a giant among American wine producing regions.

20060808

Nearly 4,000 wines were entered in the 2006 version of the Indiana CommercialVintners & Amateur Winemakers' Indy International Wine Competition held this month.

Of the 3,859 entries, 341 received gold medals,, 1,156 silvers and 1,370 bronzes. Wines were judged in Commercial, the sub-category Indiana Commercial, and Amateur categories.

The winningest Indiana winery was the Huber Winery of Borden, IN. The Indiana Winegrowers Guild's state wine champion award went to Larry A. Kreke of Indianapolis for his Liebfraumilch Scolley Winery, Muller-Thurgau 2006. Mahlon Butz of West Lafayette won the Indiana-Grown Amateur champion award.

The American Airlines Trophy for best of show grand champion wine went to Mission Hill Family Estate of Westbank, BC, for the Canadian operation's Five Vineyards Riesling Ice Wine 2004.

20060803

Neighboring Australia is letting its grapes rot on the vines and in the fields to combat an oversupply from further depressing prices in its wine industry.

But, in New Zealand some growers are bragging about a bumper harvest.

Marlborough, the industry giant that produces Grove Mill and Sanctuary wines, has reported increased after-tax profits as a result of a good harvest and the dropping value of the New Zealand dollar which helps export business, according to company CEO Rob White (seen here).

"The 2006 harvest is considerably up on the 2005 harvest and we are very comfortable with the quality. A bigger harvest produces better economies because it lowers our cost structure," White said.

The forecast was based on a continued decline in the Kiwi dollar, which had helped export sales. But while export prospects were brighter – the company exports 64 per cent of production with sales strong in the U.S. – prices at home were under pressure.

"It's quite brutal. There's increased competition out of Australia ... . There's a lot more pressure from retailers in terms of price and supplier margins. We are seeing prices squeezed."